How to keep things organized at work

If you are the type of person who always has so many things stacked on his office desk and just can’t seem to get past the paperwork backlog, then it looks like you have some serious organizing to do. You don’t have to wait for your boss to tell you to, do you? Here are tips that can help you keep things organized at work.

1. Determine what’s causing the chaos

Keeping things organized is not about fixing your table right away. It starts with a proper mindset: determining what your specific goals are. The first step to arranging your work life is creating a daily log.

Taking a good, hard look at your log will help you determine what wastes your time and what you can do to check them off your schedule. The next thing you need to determine is the time when you are most productive. Can you finish more tasks in the morning, or after lunch?

By knowing your productivity schedule, you can schedule your tasks during the time when you are able to finish tasks efficiently.

2. De-clutter your table

Now that you know the whats and hows, it is time for you to get down and dirty – on your table, that is.

If you are guilty of having towers of documents on your table, what you need to do is get rid of the unnecessary clutter. Leave only a few things on your desk, such as those you need to use every day: pen, pencil, paper clips, and the current documents you are working on.

If you expect several documents a week, then you need to get started being systematic. Purchase file folders where you can keep your papers according to a certain classification: alphabetically arranged or by date, whatever works best for you.

By filing your documents systematically, you will have an easy time accessing and retrieving your previous files, especially if you need them right away.

3. Attend to your correspondences efficiently

Checking e-mails and receiving phone calls are necessary for all types of work, but answering correspondences in an inefficient manner can distract you and take a huge chunk out of your precious time.

To keep your work life organized, classify all of your e-mails and rank them according to importance. Respond to important messages immediately and answer the non-urgent ones only during your free time. If you are really very busy to take calls, do not be afraid to divert your phone calls to an answering machine.

Make it a point to check these messages whenever you can though, so you can get back right away to callers with urgent concerns.

4. Take charge of your time

Your co-employees have the same workload as you do, but why do they get to finish their tasks way ahead of you? If this is happening to you at work, then it probably means that you are not good with time management.

Make it a point to set deadlines and priorities, as well as time limits. Most importantly, avoid multitasking! Focus on the task at hand first before shifting to another.

Keeping things organized at work doesn’t need rocket science. Just follow these practical tips, and you’re off to see a great improvement in your organizational skills.

Adil Khan is freelance writer and a Computer Engineer by profession. He started writing articles for CareerThoughts.com in 2016. He writes a opinion column for a local newspaper.
He is yet to join Twitter!